Review: 'American Utopia' is the first solo record in 14 years from iconic polymath David Byrne. The album comes as part of a larger project entitled 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' - a series of works that strives to antidote pervasive social and political anxieties. In keeping with this, 'American Utopia' questions realities of contemporary culture with playful writing that shifts perspectives and favours optimism over despairing pessimism. Being the product of working with 25 collaborators, 'American Utopia' feels like something of a sonic patchwork, but doesn't ever feel sprawling, neatly tied together by Byrne's inimitable sense of melody and harmony. 'American Utopia' doesn't offer any transcendental conclusions on how to save the world, but advocates positive and unusual ways of looking at the world around us, and with a career underpinned by a singular and indescribable quirkiness, Byrne is the ideal candidate the job.

Review: 'American Utopia' is the first solo record in 14 years from iconic polymath David Byrne. The album comes as part of a larger project entitled 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' - a series of works that strives to antidote pervasive social and political anxieties. In keeping with this, 'American Utopia' questions realities of contemporary culture with playful writing that shifts perspectives and favours optimism over despairing pessimism. Being the product of working with 25 collaborators, 'American Utopia' feels like something of a sonic patchwork, but doesn't ever feel sprawling, neatly tied together by Byrne's inimitable sense of melody and harmony. 'American Utopia' doesn't offer any transcendental conclusions on how to save the world, but advocates positive and unusual ways of looking at the world around us, and with a career underpinned by a singular and indescribable quirkiness, Byrne is the ideal candidate the job.

Review: It was a precipitous climb from obscurity to indie rock royalty for Fleet Foxes, and some might view their most recent five year absence as wise given the pressure they felt following up the harmony-laden and heartwarming strains of their debut. Yet longterm fans of Robin Pecknold's bunch of bookish aesthetes will rejoice as 'Crack Up' is every bit as deliriously wrought with heavenly melody, as rich in autumnal melancholy and as overloaded with symbolism and cerebral reference points as anything they might have hoped for - now as ever, Fleet Foxes set the standards for the sound of the more overgrown quarters of bohemia.

Review: It was a precipitous climb from obscurity to indie rock royalty for Fleet Foxes, and some might view their most recent five year absence as wise given the pressure they felt following up the harmony-laden and heartwarming strains of their debut. Yet longterm fans of Robin Pecknold's bunch of bookish aesthetes will rejoice as 'Crack Up' is every bit as deliriously wrought with heavenly melody, as rich in autumnal melancholy and as overloaded with symbolism and cerebral reference points as anything they might have hoped for - now as ever, Fleet Foxes set the standards for the sound of the more overgrown quarters of bohemia.